Qatar Subaru Impreza WRX Sti driver Rashid Al Naimi scored a lonely victory on the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.

Al Qatar 2017 winners Rashed Al Naimi and Hugo Magalhaes.Naimi finished 25 minutes ahead of the only other finisher, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X of Kuwait driver Meshari Al Thefiri.  

Al Naimi, running with new co-driver, Hugo Magalhaes from Portugal, punctured on the final stage and damaged the suspension, so he was lucky to finish!  

Both non finishers were Qatari Skoda Fabia R5 drivers, MERC champion Nasser Al Attiyah, whose engine was damaged after a water leak, and Khaled Al Suwaidi, who crashed.  

Qatar 2017 Khaled Al SuwaidiKhaled Al Suwaidi crashed heavily.Recent strict rules regarding safety fuel tanks led to several non starters.  This is the lowest number of official finishers in an FIA championship event.  The 1972 Bandama Rally in Ivory Coast had no finishers, but that was before the event officially became a championship event.  

There were also only four starters and two finishers in the concurrent Qatar National Rally.

QMMF Qatar International Rally – positions after SS12:
1. Rashid Al-Naimi (QAT)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Subaru Impreza WRX STi, 1hr 56min 28.3sec
2. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Fares Al-Thefiri (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, 2hr 21min 57.0sec
 
QMMF Qatar National Rally – positions after SS12:
1. Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Killian Duffy (IRL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 2hr 10min 17.2sec
2. Khaled Al-Mohannadi (QAT)/Musa Sherif (IND) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, 2hr 43min 26.1sec
3. Henry Kahy (LEB)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, 3hr 05min 07.1sec
 
FIA Middle East Rally Championship – positions after round 1 (unofficial):
1. Rashid Al-Naimi (QAT), 37pts
2. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT), 28pts
3. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT), 7pts     
4. Khalid Al-Suwaidi (QAT), 6pts
 
- Martin Holmes

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